0002] 1.

Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to a mobile communication system, and more
particularly to an apparatus and a method for preventing a call from being dropped in a
Global System for Mobile (GSM) system.

[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0005] A GSM system corresponds to a digital mobile telephone system using Time
Division Multiple Access (TDMA) technology that is the most widely used digital
wireless telephone technology together with Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
technology. A GSM system digitizes and compresses data, and transmits the compressed
data through one channel together with two different user data wherein respective data
are transmitted in specific time zones.

[0006] Such a GSM system maps a logical channel to a physical channel such as an RF
channel, a TDMA frame and a time slot. The logical channel may include a Traffic
Channel (TCH) and a control channel such as a BCCH, a PCH, a RACH, a Slow
Associated Control Channel (SACCH) and a FACCH. Herein, information including
voice, data, etc., is transmitted through a TCH, and control signals between a Base
Transceiver Station (BTS) and a plurality of Mobile Stations (MSs) are transmitted
through a control channel.

[0007] A SACCH is a channel used to transmit/receive control information between one

BTS and one MS, and is used for transmission/reception of system information and
handoff-related information. A SACCH is used in connection with a TCH. An MS sends
received signal quality information, Broadcast Channel (BCH) power measurement
information, which corresponds to a set of logical channels of links used for
synchronization with an adjacent cell, etc., to a BTS through a SACCH during
communication. Further, a BTS sends transmitted signal power information of an MS,
timing information, channel configuration information of a cell, etc., through a downlink
SACCH during communication.

[0008] An MS and a BTS perform radio link control for communication while
periodically exchanging the afore-described SACCH block during communication. If the
SACCH block is not normally received, a call drop may occur because communication
cannot be performed. Herein, a call drop represents that communication is interrupted by
external conditions, instead of a user request, after an MS originates a call, a BTS assigns
a voice channel, and the line of a trunk device in a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) is
assigned to the call.

[0009] In conventional systems, an MS has a Radio Link Timeout (RLT) value for call
drop determination, as in GSM Specification 05.08 5.2. That is, if the reception of a
SACCH block is successful during communication, the RLT value increases by two.
However, if the reception of the SACCH block fails during communication, the RLT
value decreases by one, and the call is dropped when the RLT value becomes zero.